Sometimes all it takes to completely transform your home is a fun new gadget. One of the most noticeable (and overlooked) upgrades for your space is adding smart LED light strips. It’s an affordable way to illuminate places like the underside of kitchen cabinets and add mood lighting along hallway baseboards.
The Govee M1 Smart LED Strip Light (available at Amazon for $99.99) is the best LED strip light you can buy thanks to the variety of customizable lighting features, ease of setup, and durability. For a Matter-enabled LED strip light that's one of the brightest you can buy, the Nanoleaf Essentials Matter Lightstrip (available at Amazon) is our pick. However, there are plenty of other intriguing choices too, each of which has something to offer.
Credit: Reviewed / Jill Schildhouse
The Govee M1 is the best smart strip light you can buy.
Best Overall
The Govee M1 is the best LED strip light you can buy.
Get ready to host the living room dance party of your dreams, thanks to the countless bright colors and patterns the Govee M1 LED Strip Light delivers. Its RGBIC technology allows for multiple hues to display simultaneously on a single strip, allowing you to customize its vivid colors with the touch of a button.
It’s easy to set up and adhere to almost any surface, a simple pair of scissors shortens the length of the strip with ease, and a QR code on the box will lead you straight to the app. The app offers everything from timers and brightness to themed color groupings and flashing patterns.
The Music DreamView feature even syncs your playlist with the lighting effects, giving a nightclub feel when you’re feeling energized or a subdued, dreamy ambiance when it’s time to settle down.
There are a couple downsides. The exposed tech look when the lights aren’t on is unappealing. And if you remove it someday, it may take some of your paint with it—but this could happen with any light strip.
The M1 also comes in a Manner-compatible version if you’re looking to expand the number of Matter smart home devices in your house.
Overall, Govee’s M1 light strip offers the best blend of value, smarts, customizations, and colors, making it the best you can buy.
Read our full review of the Govee M1 Smart LED Strip Light.
Easy to install
Customizable
Works with Alexa and Google Assistant
May leave residue behind upon removal
Limited trim options
Unattractive when not in use
Credit: Phillips Hue
The Philips Hue Bluetooth Lightstrip Plus is our pick for Best Upgrade.
Best Upgrade
Philips Hue makes the best smart bulbs, so we had high hopes for this light strip. We love that it works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, Microsoft Cortana, SmartThings, and IFTTT. However, for remote access, you will need to purchase a Phillips Hue hub—an extra cost to consider—which is one reason we named this our Best Upgrade pick for best LED strip light.
You can skip the hub and opt for Bluetooth control only via the Philips Hue Bluetooth app for iOS and Android—just make sure you stay within range.
The Philips Hue Light Strip Plus puts out 1600 lumens, which does a fine job of illuminating dark spaces, but it's not as bright as others in our guide. In the Hue app, you can set the lights to one of 16 million colors or opt for one of the many awesome preset light settings. The app is incredibly easy to navigate and use.
One feature that impressed us is that cut segments can be reused and reconnected to other portions of the strip using the Philip Hue connector. This is not the case for most smart light strips.
You can sync them with your home entertainment system, which is a cool feature, but the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box is required to make it work.
This light strip is sleek, easy to use, and full of awesome features, making it a great LED strip light if you're looking for a premium upgrade. It's also ideal for people who are already invested in Philips Hue lights or want to start using them for their smart lighting system, as Hue offers a wide range of smart lighting options.
Robust lighting effects and presets
Bright
Works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri
Hub required to access best features
Credit: Nanoleaf
This Nanoleaf strip light is the brightest of any we've tested.
Brightest
The Nanoleaf Essentials Matter Lightstrip is a trimmable and dimmable LED smart light with a maximum brightness of 2,200 lumens—the brightest in our guide. The color output is incredible, with a temperature range from 2700K to 6500K. The strip is thick and feels durably made for long-term use, and it also supports Matter, so you can use it across your preferred smart home ecosystem, like Amazon Echo, Google Home, or Apple HomeKit
While this LED strip light puts out incredibly vibrant shades of tunable whites and over 16 million colors, there are a few qualms to note. The cord connection between the strip and the controller tends to come apart. This shouldn’t be much of an issue once you get it into place, but it was a bit annoying during our setup.
Additionally, we think the Nanoleaf app is difficult to navigate and lacks certain features that others in our guide have. It’s also pretty hot to the touch after being on for more than 15 minutes when compared to other light strips from Kasa, Govee, and LIFX.
If you’re OK with a few quirks, this is a great pick for a bright strip light that displays the brightest, most amazing colors and works with Matter-enabled smart homes.
Very bright with rich colors
Supports Matter
Gets hot to the touch
Nanoleaf app is confusing
Credit: Reviewed / Rachel Murphy
We fell in love with the LIFX Lightstrip with Color Zones for their incredibly simple set up, ease of use, and variety of awesome features.
Best Color Zones
The LIFX Lightstrip with Color Zones are RGBW LED strip lights that easily connect to Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit. Uniquely, it offers eight different color zones. Each zone can be set to a different color (from millions of options), allowing you to get creative with your custom lighting setup—something not every strip light offers.
At 1,400 lumens, these weren't the most radiant lights we tested, but we had no issues illuminating a dark room even at 30% brightness. On the downside, during our longterm testing, we've experienced issues with the strip randomly going offline and needing reconnection—which is one of the reasons it is no longer our No. 1 pick.
The strip light is available in two lengths: 40 inches and 80 inches. Additional 40-inch extension strips can be added for up to 33 feet, or you can cut the strip down to a smaller size.
The LIFX app is loaded with useful controls like scheduling and grouping, plus a bevy of fun lighting effects and preset color themes. The app can even make the lights dance to the beat of a song or the sound of a movie via your phone’s or tablet's microphone.
Works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri
Great lighting effects
Bright, vivid colors
Goes offline randomly
Credit: Eve
The Eve Light Strip is the best option for Apple HomeKit.
Best for Apple HomeKit
The Eve Light Strip is made for the Apple ecosystem, making it the best LED strip light for HomeKit that you can buy. The 1,800-lumen strip light offers a wide array of full-spectrum white and colors to choose from. While we had a nice and easy experience with the Eve strip, there are a few shortcomings.
This strip light isn’t as customizable as some others. It doesn't offer any fun lighting effects or presets—you're limited to single colors only.
The only smart home assistant it’s compatible with is Siri, which enables Apple users to change the color, adjust the brightness, and turn it on/off. You can do so remotely with any iOS device that functions as an Apple home hub, including an iPad, Apple TV, or Apple HomePod.
The Eve Energy app is also iOS-exclusive, and the strip supports Apple’s HomeKit Adaptive Lighting. This iOS feature that automatically adjusts the color temperature as the day goes on. All in all, Android users should avoid this light strip.
Like most strip lights, Eve's can be trimmed to a smaller size, or you can add a few of Eve’s extension strips up to 32.8 feet. We had issues with the adhesive backing, which tore off in a few spots during setup and made the lights hard to stick into place.
Overall, if you are living in an Apple smart home, this is a great pick for a smart strip light that works with Siri.
Supports Apple HomeKit's Adaptive Lighting
Very bright
Reliable connection
Not compatible with Android devices
No Google Assistant or Alexa support
The Kasa Smart Multicolor Light Strip makes it easy to create custom eye-catching light displays. Powered by the Kasa app, these lights are incredibly quick and easy to set up, and they have a bubble-like polyurethane coating that helps to protect the diodes.
The lights are easiest to install with two people—one person to hold the strip up and another to peel off the backing and place the strand—but the adhesive is strong and won’t be going anywhere until you remove it.
The strip itself has quite a bit of writing on it that makes it somewhat unattractive when the lights are off, so you may only want to use this option in concealed locations.
The Kasa Smart Multicolor Light Strip offers incredible functionality. The 16-foot strand has 50 customizable color zones that you can set to 16 million colors. Thanks to the strip’s built-in integrated circuit chip, the zones can be controlled separately, creating fun custom patterns.
The Kasa app comes programmed with color effects like rainbow and candy cane, but you can also create your designs through the color-painting function. The app even includes an energy-tracking tab to show you how much electricity the lights are using.
These Kasa lights are easy to sync up with Alexa, Google Assistant, or Samsung SmartThings—no hub needed. However, one downside of the KL420L5 is that it can’t be connected or spliced to increase the strand’s length, so you have a maximum length of 16.4 feet to work with.
Read our review of the Kasa Smart Multicolor Light Strip.
Easy to install
Great lighting features
Works with Alexa and Google Assistant
Can’t be spliced
The Govee Glide RGBIC Wall Light uses adhesive for installation and displays a lovely range of colors, but it's a bit of a different take on a light strip. Made from plastic, the 7-piece gadget snaps together to create a thick bar of light that's ideal for gaming and watching movies.
It uses Govee's RGBIC technology, enabling it to display multiple colors at the same time in a neat "flowing" effect.
While it took some elbow grease to lock the pieces into place, that small frustration was soon forgotten after watching the strip transform into an immersive lighting experience. Music sync mode can use any device with the Govee app or a built-in mic to listen for the nearby sound and create a reactive light show
The wall light connects over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It also responds well to voice control with Alexa and Google Assistant to adjust the colors, brightness levels, scene modes, and power.
The wall light comes with six straight pieces and one angled corner piece. In total, it has 19 lighting segments that can display up to 57 vibrant colors at once.
One downside is the light's limited configuration options. The positioning of the power cord and the fact that you can’t connect multiple wall lights restrict your options.
Works with Alexa and Google Assistant
Awesome lighting features
Great for gaming and watching movies
Can be hard to assemble
No Apple HomeKit support
Limited options for installation
The Cync LED Light Strip is an improvement over the previous version, which required a smart bridge for features like smart assistant integration or remote access away from home.
Now, you can use hands-free voice control with Alexa or Google Assistant (but not Siri) to adjust the brightness to a certain percentage, change the color or scene, and power the lights on/off without needing additional devices.
The strip works with extenders for additional length. It’s on the lower end of the brightness scale at just 800 lumens, but it does a fine job of illuminating a dark room at full brightness.
We also like that the Cync app sends email account notifications if someone attempts to log into your account, which helps keep your account secure.
In the app, you can choose from a wheel full of colors, as well as white light settings like cool white, warm white, and sunset. Scenes and schedules are available in the app, but there are no preset lighting features, color zones, or home entertainment integrations.
No hub needed
Works with Alexa and Google Assistant
Email account verification for new logins
Limited lighting effects
No support for Siri
The Geeni Prisma Plus didn't give us any trouble during setup or installation. The light strip works with Alexa and Google. They’re also waterproof and can be used outdoors.
Like others, Geeni’s strip lights can be trimmed to size or combined with extender pieces. You can create schedules, choose colors, or dim the lights. You can also choose one of nine premade lighting scenes.
These lights are attractive, fairly bright, and feel well-made, but the humming noise coming from the power adapter each time we adjusted the color seemed to cheapen the product. Another thing we didn’t like was that the remote control lacked adhesive tape, leaving no easy way to attach it to the wall.
We were also unable to log into the Geeni app on both an iPhone and Android at the same time, which could create a problem for households with multiple users. However, the app does offer two-factor authentication to help secure your account.
Works with Google Assistant, Alexa, Microsoft Cortana
No hub needed
Noticeable "hum" sound when changing between light colors
The Wyze Light Strip doesn't have as many bells and whistles as other light strips in our guide, but, as we’ve come to expect from Wyze, it does have some cool features at a relatively low price point.
The LED strip light works with Alexa and Google Assistant, comes with 16 million color options (including RGB and tuneable whites), and can sync to the beat of a song or a movie playing nearby.
The digital setup and physical installation are painless and should only take a few minutes. With features like remote control and timers, the Wyze app makes it easy to manage the LED light strip from anywhere.
The app also includes fun, useful extras like Sleep Routines (to simulate sunrise/sunset for an easier wake-up), Vacation Mode (randomly turns lights on/off to give the appearance you’re home), and Sun Match (mimics the natural sunlight).
The RGB colors are vibrant and look great, but the “white” color gives off a noticeable blue hue compared to others. When using voice commands for Alexa or Google Assistant (there’s no Siri support), you can control the power, brightness, and colors.
However, you’ll need the Wyze app to activate any of the preset lighting scenes. Additionally, the Wyze Light Strip can only display one color at a time, instead of multiple colors simultaneously.
The strips are trimmable but cannot be extended. The strip is flexible and easy to work with for outlining your TV or lining baseboards.
Works with Alexa and Google Assistant
Syncs up with sound
Useful features
No true "white" color
No protective coating
Hi, I’m Rachel Murphy, Reviewed’s home editor. I live in a home full of smart home devices like cameras, plugs, speakers, and an oven. During my tenure at Reviewed, I’ve tested smart plugs, smart water leak detectors, and other gadgets that can be controlled remotely or via smart assistants.
Testing in this guide was also completed by longtime freelance writer and reviewer Camryn Rabideau and Jill Schildhouse.
We put each light strip through a series of in-depth, hands-on tests to fully understand each one’s capabilities, features, and downsides. We also looked for important app security features like two-factor authentication and reviewed the amount and types of data the apps collect.
We set the lights up in a variety of indoor locations throughout my home, testing to see which ones work the best in low light, offer the best connectivity, and integrate with smart assistants for easy control. We also tested the companion apps on both iOS and Android devices to get a feel for their connectivity, ease of use, and features.
LED strips are a versatile lighting option that can be added almost anywhere inside your house. They are often seen in home theater setups, but the bendable, sticky lights are a quick and easy way to brighten up the dark spots in your home and add accent lighting. There are a few things to consider before you purchase LED strip lights.
When purchasing smart LED light strips for your home, you should check to see whether the light strip requires a hub. Unless you already have a compatible smart home hub, we’d recommend choosing a smart strip light that doesn’t require you to purchase another device.
It’s also important to select a strip light that easily integrates with your existing smart home environment. We tested models that work with Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. However, not all of these strip lights are compatible with all three popular smart assistants.
While most of the lights we tested connect over Wi-Fi, some use only Bluetooth, and others can use either. We found Bluetooth connections to be unreliable and slow at times, so we’d recommend selecting a strip light that offers Wi-Fi.
The amount of light you’re getting from a bulb is measured in lumens—the more lumens, the more brightness. Many of the light strips we tested had adjustable brightness to best fit the space you’re using them. However, even one of the sets on the lower end of brightness, the Cync LED Light Strip, with 800 lumens, was capable of lighting a dark room.
The good majority of strip lights we tested can either be cut down or extended with additional light strip sections. However, not all of the lights are as customizable.
Think strategically about where you need extra lighting, then measure the area. During testing, we installed strip lights around TVs and mirrors, along baseboards and door trim, on bookcases and office desks, and under kitchen cabinets.
LED light strips are a fun and easy way to spruce up a room, adding pops of color to a media center, a wall or even under a bed, or just bringing much-needed lighting to a dark area under a cabinet. Water-resistant versions even let you add lighting in a snap to your patio, deck or garden path. And smart strips can integrate with the rest of your lighting, or simply respond to music or other sounds around the house.
To help you figure out which LED light strip works best for your situation, we tested 10 popular models. Whether you’re looking for indoor or outdoor lighting, responsive smart strips or just something basic, we’ve found the best LED light strips available for any setting.
The best LED light strips overall
Govee
The Govee Wi-Fi RGBIC strip lights perform brilliantly and give you longer lengths and more coverage for less money than the competition. The easy-to-use app lets you create warm ambiances and color-changing special effects for entertaining or everyday use.
From $37 at Amazon
The Govee RGBIC Pro Smart LED strip lights give you vivid, ever-changing colors, simple controls and more coverage for your money than the competition. Smart home integrations are simple and don’t require a hub, and they’re simple to mount with a secure adhesive backing. If you’re looking for the greatest range of color effects and want plenty of coverage for your money, look no further.
RGBIC light strips (IC stands for “Independent Control”) can display more than one color at a time, unlike RGB lights, which show only one color. That means using the Govee app you can customize different segments of the strip to show different colors, or create lighting effects that look like the lights are jumping or cascading or chasing each other, with individual diodes turning on and off or changing color rapidly for a rolling or snake-like effect. There are dozens of preset scenes to choose from, in addition to 11 music modes, making these great for a teen’s bedroom, a dorm room or when you’re hosting a party. They are a ton of fun to use.
The strips are voice reactive, so when connected to your sound system, the lights will flash and dance in time to the music.
The light strips come in 16-foot, 32-foot and 64-foot lengths, typically divided into two reels sharing a single power adapter and control box for manual use. They’re thin, with a light coating over the diodes, and very easy to bend for installation.
The lights are vivid and reasonably bright (they put out 820 lumens, similar to a string of 60W lightbulbs), they’re true to color and they can be dimmed to create ambiance when needed. They can be integrated with voice assistants (Alexa and Google Assistant) without a hub, giving you control over colors, schedules, music and much more. I had no issues with connectivity or placing the lights with the adhesive backing.
Govee light strips are also more affordable than others with similar features — basically, you get longer lengths and more coverage for less money. Combined with the easy-to-use Govee app and color-changing special effects for entertainment and fun, these light strips will not disappoint.
Our issues with the Govee LED strips are pretty minor given the overall solid performance and value of the system.
The most frustrating downside here (which is common to all RGBIC strips) is that because of the integrated chips that allow the multiple color effects, the Govee strips can’t be cut to size. This means that unless you plan to use up an entire run (the shortest length these come in is 16 feet) illuminating your media center or gaming battle station, you may end up with a lot of excess to hide away. Govee also sells an RGB version of these, which can be trimmed to length, but the color effects are more limited, and overall we prefer the RGBIC version.
Also, since Govee doesn’t include corner connectors like the Philips strips, you can’t easily make clean right angles. We ended up looping the strip under itself where we wanted to make a 90-degree turn, hoping it wouldn’t come away from the floor or create a dark spot at the apex of the bend.
Given the lack of corner connectors, to make right-angle bends with the Govee (and the other RGBIC strips we tested) we found it easiest to make and secure a loop, which we found more difficult (and a less efficient use of the LEDs themselves) than systems that could be cut to length.
Andrea Smith/CNN UnderscoredAnother issue is that while Govee makes a ton of light strip products, you can’t just add accessories to the system you already have. For instance, while the set we tested responds to sound, it doesn’t respond to on-screen colors, and you can’t add just a camera — you’ll have to purchase a different light strip set, the Govee Dreamview T1 Immersion Backlights. That said, the overall cost is still lower than some systems (like the Philips) that do let you add individual components, but it’s worth keeping in mind.
In addition to a set of LED light strips, the Dreamview package comes with an external 1080p camera to capture the colors on the screen and automatically have the LEDs reproduce effects that correspond to the show or movie you’re watching, or the game you’re playing.
The best outdoor LED light strips
Govee
If you're looking to create a colorful ambiance for outdoor entertaining, Govee's affordable Wi-Fi Outdoor Strip Lights are RGBIC, so they give you a huge range of color options, they're weather-resistant and they're easy to install and configure.
Read our review$70 $50 at Amazon
The best LED light strips for TV backlighting
Sengled
Sengled's affordable RGB light strips come in easy-to-mount lengths that save you money when mounting on a TV or monitor for backlighting effects, and have plenty of smarts to provide the perfect ambiance and audio-synchronized lighting effects for most TV or gaming situations.
Read our review$80 at Best Buy
Govee Wi-Fi RGBIC Pro Strip Lights
The best LED light strips overall
Govee Wi-Fi Outdoor Strip Lights
The best outdoor LED light strips
Sengled Smart Wi-Fi LED TV Light Strips
The best LED light strips for TV backlighting
Philips Hue LightStrip Plus
The best splurge LED light strip
What we lovedBright colors with multiple options, plus they are flexible, easy to install and configure and give you more coverage for less money than similarly spec'd competitors.
Lots of color possibilities and installation options in an IP65-rated weather-resistant strip.
A package of precut lengths with corner connectors makes it easy to set up behind a TV or monitor without waste.
The best-looking LED light strips with the most integration options and control and sync possibilities.
What we didn't likeA lack of corner connectors makes tight bends difficult to negotiate during installation; adding accessories to an existing setup may mean buying more strips than you need.
Power brick isn't water-resistant and needs to be positioned in a weatherproof outlet for extended use.
RGB only, so they are limited in the range of effects they can produce; can't sync to color, only to sound.
The Philips strips are much more expensive than others and make the most sense if you're already invested in Hue lighting in your home.
Key specsRGBIC; available in 16.4- and 32.8-foot lengths; syncs to audio; available in kit with camera for color sync.
RGBIC; available in 16.4- and 32.8-foot lengths; IP65 weather resistance.
RGB; kit fits 45-inch to 75-inch diagonal TVs.
Available in a variety of lengths; can sync directly to HDMI input or audio with accessory; can connect with Hue bridge for integration with other Hue lighting and smart home products.
Price$37
$50
$80
$100
These thin, flexible circuit boards are packed with small LED (light-emitting diode) lights that are controlled through an app and in most cases can also use your voice with a smart speaker.
We love that they can be bent, and some can be cut to size for use around a door frame, under a cabinet or anywhere else you want to add some color. Plus, they don’t use as much electricity as incandescent bulbs and will last for years.
Though some LED light strips display only one color at a time, others can show multiple colors or dance to the beat of music, allowing for endless combinations and hours of dazzling fun.
LED light strips can be installed just about anywhere you have a flat surface — under kitchen cabinets, on a back deck or patio railing or in a child’s bedroom — but it’s important to note that not all light strips work well in all locations. Some are for indoors only, while others are waterproof for use outside the home. Some light strips are better for entertainment use with their ability to pulse or change colors to the beat of the music.
Whether you want lights for a TV room or a cascade of color outside, here’s what to look for when purchasing a smart LED light strip.
If you already own smart lights, you might want to consider strip lights from the same brand, especially if they require a hub or bridge. For instance, the Sengled and Wyze light strips we tested have Wi-Fi built in, so there’s no need for a hub, while the Philips Outdoor light strip does. If you don’t already own one, you’ll be adding on the cost of the hub to the cost of the strips.
Make sure the light strips work with the smart home ecosystem you use, whether that’s Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Apple HomeKit. Most work with Alexa and Google, but only two that we looked at are compatible with Apple HomeKit. This is important so you can use your voice to control the light strips.
Think about where you’re placing the light strips. Under a bed or inside a bookshelf, or outside on the deck? You can put them anywhere; your only limitation is the availability of a power outlet. If placing them in a bathroom, consider a water-resistant light strip in case it gets splashed or there’s a lot of moisture.
For outdoor use, look for one with at minimum an IP44 rating, meaning the strip can get wet and withstand jets of water. An IP65 rating, like the Govee Outdoor LED Strip Lights have, means it can be exposed to all weather conditions.
Make sure your lights have something to reflect off. If you place them facing toward you, all you’ll see is LED lights. Unless you intend to use them to shine down and add direct light, place them facing away from you toward a wall or the ceiling so you’ll get that diffused effect you’re looking for.
Light strips are typically held in place with double-sided adhesive on the back of the strip, but some that have a heavier silicon coating or are a bit thicker and bulkier for waterproofing work better with the included mounts and screws. Be sure you’re able to use screws in whatever it is you’re mounting to before choosing this type.
The area will need to be prepped by cleaning it and wiping it down with an alcohol pad to ensure a proper hold, so make sure you have access to the entire area. Proper prep is what will keep the light strips in place.
Are the lights being used to create ambiance or for entertainment? This will help you decide whether to buy ones that can display segment colors and sync with music. If you’re looking for entertainment, make sure the strips have a built-in mic to pick up the sound. For ambiance, you don’t need anything more than a simple strip that shows one color at a time.
Light strips come in all different lengths, so it’s important to measure the area you want to cover before you make a purchase. Some strips can be cut, while others can’t, so measure twice to be sure. If you’re putting lights on the back of a TV or PC, you’ll want to choose a light strip like the Sengled Wi-Fi TV strips or the Govee Immersion TV Backlights, which come in shorter lengths so there’s less waste if you need to cut to size. If you want to light the side of a wall or run it under a countertop, opt for the longer strip, but be sure there’s an outlet nearby for power.
Most of the multi-color light strips we looked at are RGB, which means they can display any combination of red, green and blue color. Typically, there are 16 million color combinations to choose from. There is no “true white” in RGB lights, but variations of white can be created.
If you’re looking for a truer white along with multiple colors, then get an RGBW light strip, which has a dedicated white LED alternating between the RGB diodes. These are typically a little more expensive.
Different tones of white light help create the mood in a room. Daylight white is good for home office use or anywhere you need to be focused, while warm white is perfect for creating a relaxing mood. Warm lighting is often used in the family room or bedroom where you’re trying to create a calming atmosphere.
Some strips can display only one color at a time, while others can be segmented, showing multiple colors at once. If you’re using the lighting to create a party atmosphere, you’ll likely want one that can show multiple colors and create fun dancing and cascading types of effects.
The brightness of LED lights is measured in lumens. For reference, a standard 60W lightbulb gives off around 800 lumens. Most of the lights we tested give off between 1,400 and 1,800, making them extremely bright. They can be dimmed, but it’s important to know how bright they are and how low they can be dimmed when considering what situation to place them in. Some of the ones we tried are still way too bright for a bedroom even at the dimmest setting.
Look at the number of LEDs per strip. The more LEDs there are, the more light you’ll get, and the more accurate that color will be.
Color temperature describes how warm or cool a light’s color is. Temperature is measured in Kelvin (K) degrees. Lower numbers produce a warmer temperature, which gives off a yellowish tone, while higher is much cooler, producing a blue tone. Most strips have a range of 2,700K to 6,500K, with the higher number producing a natural daylight temperature.
We installed and tested 10 different LED light strips in different areas and locations in and out of the home. They were installed under kitchen cabinets, under a countertop, on the back of a TV, on a back deck and along a garden walkway, to name a few.
We downloaded and connected the strips to the brand’s app and tested the features within the app. We looked at the user interface and judged how easy it was to set up and access preset scenes, create schedules, create music- and sound-triggered effects, set up integrations with voice assistants such as Alexa, Google and Siri and keep the app and strips connected.
We also evaluated the installation process, looking at light strip flexibility and how easy or difficult it was to bend a strip to fit the space. We also tested the special connectors some of the strips provide to create a right angle.
We tested the durability and adhesive by gently tugging on the strip a few days after installation. We tested the hold on the outdoor strips after a soaking rain.
We considered the color brightness of the strip, the length, the number of LEDs as well as the ability to cut to size and how much waste is created with unused portions.
We evaluated smart home integrations and the reactive lighting (TV and music) modes on those that offer it.
Wyze Light Strips are a very inexpensive option for adding color or accent lighting to a room, and while they are very bright at 1,800 lumens (perhaps due in part to the lack of a protective coating over the LEDs), we found them a bit thin and flimsy compared to the others. The RGB strips respond quickly to dimming and tuning, though you can display only one color at a time.
Like others we tested, they work over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (no hub required), and you can use Alexa or Google Assistant voice commands to turn the lights on and off, change the color and set the brightness level. They’re easy to install, they come in 16.4- and 32.8-foot lengths like much of the competition (and can be trimmed to fit, since they are RGB rather than RGBIC) and they sync to music as you’d expect. However, to access basic preset scenes like “energizing” and “movies,” you need to use the app. While we’d suggest spending a bit more if you can for a more durable strip, for the price they work as advertised, so if you’re looking for a basic LED light strip to add a splash of color and have power available nearby, these will suit your needs.
The Wyze Light Strip Pro, the company’s RGBIC model, can display up to 16 colors per strip. It has everything the standard version has and comes in the same lengths, but it’s more customizable and gives you access to effects that sync with your games, movies and shows. You can also easily group multiple strips and control them all in the app, giving you endless hours of fun creating your own custom scenes for both lighting and music syncing.
The Pro strip has a protective epoxy coating over the LED lights, so they felt a lot sturdier and less flimsy than the cheaper Wyze strips, but they still don’t match the quality of our top picks. Color output also isn’t quite as true, and the app is not as user-friendly as the Govee and Philips strips.
If you’re looking for a bright light strip with millions of color options and don’t need an exceptionally long run, the 16.4-foot Kasa Smart Light Strip from TP-Link is an affordable RGBIC option that works with Alexa, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings, but you do give up a few features for the lower price tag. There’s no audio synchronization mode, so these won’t react to music or the sound from the TV, and it doesn’t offer any preset scenes to choose from in the app, only animated effects that add a flicker effect or light up certain areas of the strip.
It’s easy to install and set up, there’s no hub needed and you can control the lights and create your own scenes to save to a preset button. You can access those presets, along with other basic controls, in the app, using your voice or on the remote control. That said, there are no corner connectors as there are for Philips or Sengled, so you’ll need to make loops in order to create 90-degree bends, limiting useful length.
The upgrade version, the Kasa Smart Premium LED Light Strip (KL430), comes in lengths up to 33 feet and ups the brightness of the strip from 550 to 1,400 lumens but only comes in 6.6-foot lengths, with 3-foot extension kits costing about $25 each, so this route will get pricey pretty quickly, at which point you might want to look to Philips Hue products.
The Kasa light strips will work well in a home that already has Kasa light switches, smart plugs or other Kasa devices in the house, as it’s really simple to set schedules and control them all in the Kasa app.
The outdoor version of the Philips Hue LED strip lights is a bulkier, more rectangular affair than its indoor sibling, topped with an opaque coating that helps make this light strip weatherproof (with an IP67 rating) and diffuses the light so you see one smooth strip of colorful light rather than the individual diodes. The coating creates an illusion of one vibrant light across the whole strip, and it was lovely to look at.
Unfortunately, the bulk makes the strip far less flexible, and you can’t cut or extend them like you can with the Philips Hue LightStrip Plus. I had a difficult time trying to bend it into a corner. It comes in 7- and 16-foot lengths, and it can’t be cut or daisy-chained — If you need to make longer runs, you need to have another power outlet available for a new strip, limiting its usefulness on patios.
They mount with an included bracket and screw hardware system (there’s no adhesive option) which may limit your options if you rent or have HOA restrictions. I wanted to mount a 7-foot strip on my back deck but couldn’t since I live in a condo and can’t drill holes into the deck railing or gutter. I did place it into the ground along my garden to light up the pathway, but this can only be done if you have power nearby.
The Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Outdoor Lightstrip requires a Hue hub for voice control (Alexa, Google Voice and Apple HomeKit), and that’s a separate cost if you don’t already have one. While the light strip looks and functions beautifully, if you don’t have nearby power or can’t drill holes to mount it, you’d be better off getting our top pick, the Govee Outdoor light strip, which also costs a whole lot less.
Twinkly Dots are not technically light strips but rather a Christmas light-esque string of tiny LEDs that you can wrap around items like a deck rail or other curved surfaces that don’t have a flat surface for an adhesive strip. The individual dots, which are spaced an inch apart, can be put in place with adhesive (it comes with flat dot-shaped adhesive backings), but you don’t mount the connecting wire. The special effects and premade animations were plentiful.
As lovely as they look and as easy as they are to put in place, setup was incredibly difficult. The app, which was less intuitive than the others we tried, took over a dozen tries before it recognized our Dots over a local Wi-Fi connection. Once we got it set up, the lights offered lots of fun options and patterns but never got very bright and often didn’t show the true color. Each time I tried to choose purple, I got variations of blue instead. They’d be fine for a party or a kid’s room (teens and creative users will enjoy playing with the effects and syncing the lights to music and sound), but those looking for true, bright colors may be disappointed. Dots aren’t extendable or cuttable, but they do come in a variety of sizes. You can buy strings of 60, 200, or 400 LED Dots.
These RGB Wi-Fi-enabled light strips are super bright at 1,600 lumens and give you a wide variety of white light settings, but they lack some of the features that make other strip lights so fun and attractive. There’s no music sync mode, there are no preset scenes to choose from (though you can create your own) and the adhesive backing is not strong enough. This was the only light strip that pulled away with a slight tug once we mounted it. The strips are also the widest we tried, with a thick coating on the sides of the strip, not just over the LEDs on the front. Though meant for indoors, they looked more like the Philips strips designed for outdoor use.
The app is confusing; it doesn’t properly scale for larger text sizes, and we found it difficult to set schedules and create scenes.
The strips come in 6.8-feet lengths, which can be trimmed (though the cut-off sections can’t be reused). It can be daisy-chained, so you can buy and connect 3.4-foot extensions, but you’ll be spending $25 for each one. You can buy the 16-foot TP-Link Kasa light strip for a third of the price, which we recommend over this one, or step up to the Philips Hue if you want more control and synchronization options.